Board of Education briefs

Budget blues

In remarks about Gov. David Paterson’s state budget address last week, school Superintendent Dr. William Johnson said that under the governor’s proposal, the Rockville Centre school district would receive over $1 million — or 13 1/2 percent — less in state aid than it received last year. But Johnson emphasized that that initial figure is only a proposal and usually the worst-case scenario. Never, he said, has the final budget passed by the legislature contained less money in state aid than what was initially proposed.

While Johnson said he was “somewhat confident” that the final budget numbers will be more favorable for the Rockville Centre and other Long Island school districts, he said he is greatly concerned that acrimony among state legislators will result in a late budget that will delay the information taxpayers most want to know: Exactly what the new tax levy will be.

More important, Johnson said, is a calculated number school officials already know: the percent of change in this year’s contingent school budget (the budget that would have to be adopted if voters fail to approve the school board’s proposed budget twice). This year that number — 0 percent — will be unlike previous years when it’s been close to or even higher than the amount adopted by the Board of Education.

The zero percent contingent budget, said Johnson, comes at exactly the wrong time when unfunded mandates and expenses relating to contractual pension, health and salary expenses are rising due to market conditions. “So here we go again,” he said. “It will be a challenging year.”

“It’s going to be ugly,” added Trustee Steve Kriss, “if we have to go on a contingent budget.”

Attorneys meet

Saying that although there have been disappointing “roadblocks” to reaching agreement on parking at Fireman’s Field near South Side High School and renewing a lapsed Cooperative Agreement between the village and school district to minimize costs to taxpayers and avoid duplication of services, school Superintendent Dr. William Johnson said there have been “no fatal blows” and that attorneys from the village and schools will now meet to see if “we can’t get together on an agreement.” He noted that the two entities — the village and the Rockville Centre school district — share 70 percent of their tax bases.